The water supply in Flint, Michigan has been tainted with high amounts of lead, causing diseases and lead poisoning among the residents.

When the government in Flint made a decision to save money, they ended up poisoning the water supply with high amounts of lead. Only after tests showing high levels of lead in the children’s blood supplies did they take action, declaring a state of emergency. That was in mid-December.

Flint switched from the Detroit water supply to its own Flint river in an attempt to save money. Instead they accidentally poisoned their residents. To top it off, they transported this water with lead pipes, which are the reason this crisis is still prevalent. Many people reported strange tastes, smells and appearances of the water.

They have since switched back to the Detriot supply, but the water didn’t get cleaner. People have flooded City Hall in protest, and the local government has been distributing water filters and bottled water as a response.

Flint has recently hit another problem, though: empty water bottles. Since residents are trying to avoid poisoning with bottled water, it just creates another ugly situation for Flint. “We have this influx of plastic coming into our community,” said Kris Thiel, vice president of Young’s Environmental Cleanup, a private hazardous waste hauling company that has donated four large recycling receptacles to Flint. In less than 24 hours, one of the bins filled up with 680 pounds of empty water bottles, Thiel told NBC News.

But Young’s Environmental, along with other cleanup contractors, are trying to keep up in the hopes that the bottles don’t end up in city landfills, where they say it takes as many as 450 years for one plastic bottle completely degrade. Many are now fearing long-term pollution caused by these bottles.

Flint is attempting to get federal funding to replace the lead pipes, but until then, many organizations are helping to get water filters and clean water to Flint residents.